Sforzando

Sforzando

1 oz. Rye

¾ oz. Mezcal

½ oz. Dry Vermouth

½ oz. Benedictine

1 dash Mole Bitters

Add all the ingredients to a mixing glass and fill with ice.  Stir, and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a slice of orange peel.

Adjectives: Smoky, too smoky, jesus lay off the smoke bruh, did I just smoke half a pack of cigarettes

In 2017 (?), I spent a week or a year or some ridiculous period of time in Cordoba, Mexico, for work. It is an awful place where there are random explosions throughout the day and night that you will ask people who live there, "Hey, what the hell is with all the booming?" and they will pretend that they don't know what you're talking about possibly due to red-hot cartel action. However, they do have several brands of mezcal there that you cannot acquire legally in the USA, so I jumped on that opportunity and brought back a fifth of Papadiablo. It turns out that maybe absence does not make the heart grow fonder, however, because Papadiablo is mostly formulated from spittle-soaked unfiltered Lucky Strikes.

Anyway, if you prefer your cocktails dominated by one ingredient and that one ingredient is tar, pour yourself a Sforzando this evening. I am proud of the mole bitters that I made, but I did not come within an area code of being able to taste them in this drink. Cheers! And maybe substitute some decent tequila for the mezcal if you're re-creating this at home. You can call it fortepiano or something similarly precious, and I guarantee you it'll be a more pleasant experience.